The Path Chosen
by RubyD
Summary: After the events at Castle Oblivion, Riku attempts to clean himself of darkness, but that is easier said than done... PostCoM, preKHII.
1. Step 1

summary: This takes place right after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and before Kingdom Hearts II. This will follow Riku and King Mickey and their short journey. Riku attempts to clean himself of darkness, but that is easier said than done... All rights reserved.

**The Path Chosen**  
Step 1  
By RubyD

_I shall be telling this with a sigh  
Somewhere ages and ages hence:  
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--  
I took the one less traveled by,  
And that has made all the difference._  
-- Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken."

---

"You mean the twilit road to nightfall?" asked DiZ.

"No…" Riku said with confidence and King Mickey by his side. "The road to dawn."

-

They walked on towards the horizon, not knowing how long their new journey would take but sure that, whatever the outcome, it would be one full of discovery.

And their next destination _did_ take longer than they had expected. After days of the endless ocean of grass and with only the yellow road to guide them Riku and Mickey finally saw the distant lines of a town. The large clock tower boomed, and they could hear the clear rings – eight o'clock.

"A town?" Riku asked. "I wonder if any more of those Organization guys are there."

"Maybe," Mickey said, shrugging, but optimistic. "Let's check it out!" The small king threw on the hood of his cloak, which did little to hide his ridiculously large ears. Riku followed in kind.

Glancing back at the path they were about to leave behind, he thought about his best friend asleep back at Castle Oblivion as Namine repaired his memories. There was a small pang as he realized how far they were separated again, after only just finding one another. Also, Kairi would be mad at him if she knew, for leaving Sora alone.

_He'll be safe_, Riku argued mentally as they approached the town gates. Besides… there was something else he needed to do. He would have stayed, but he was determined to defeat that bit of darkness left in his heart, and be able to walk unafraid of both light and dark. He hoped that when it happened his two friends would be able to forgive him, and that he could forgive himself.

The wide orange doors swallowed his sight. They were welcomed in by a bright sign that proclaimed:

_TWILIGHT TOWN_

He had a strong sense of déjà vu and hoped it wasn't a bad omen.

"Hey, isn't this place a little familiar?" he asked, wary.

"It was back at Castle Oblivion, remember? But like everything else, that was an illusion - _this_ is the real Twilight Town."

It was definitely more real than the shadow of the Town they had been through. Although it was getting dark the streets had a steady trickle of people coming and going, and they hardly spared a glance at the black-clad figures. Riku felt too conspicuous, but the sight of civilization lifted his spirits and he suddenly longed for something he had forgotten he missed.

"Is something wrong?" asked Mickey.

"…No," he answered, shaking his head. The mouse waited, expectant, with an eyebrow raised and so he thought about it some more. "It's just a little strange, after everything. This place seems so… normal. That's all." Kids played in the streets while mothers called them in for the evening, friends laughed together, complained about school, joked about boys, and talked of things he wondered if he'd ever get the chance to talk about - maybe one day, back at a home far away from here.

Shops were opened, and the attractive smell of dinner made him realize that he hadn't had a regular, real, non-magick cooked meal in a long time. His stomach growled in agreement.

"Hungry?" the King teased.

"A bit," he admitted, embarrassed.

"Well then, nothing's stopping us! How about something to eat?" Mickey's cheerfulness reminded Riku of Sora and Kairi's combined, and that was enough to make him nod and smile in agreement.

There were too many places to choose from, so they picked the one closest by – a quaint looking purple building with an obscenely large cactus cutout at the door holding up a menu. He stared at it with a raised eyebrow, suspicious of the blank expression on the cut-out's face, until the nostalgic scent of steamy burgers and hot fries hit him like a friendly elbow to the chest. Although Riku had dined on the most grandiose of meals not long ago, with witches and company that almost made him lose his appetite at the thought of them, but this… this was comfort food.

Inside, the restaurant was half-empty and reminded him more of a school cafeteria than anything else. Teenagers, probably about his age, darted to the front counter for their order.

"Hot dogs!" a boy demanded hopefully.

"Sorry, we just sold the last one."

"What - ! Aww, man…"

The old lady with a green apron chuckled, adding, "Just kidding. Of course we have plenty enough for you."

"All right! Thanks, grandma!"

"'Grandma'…? Hmph!" The boy laughed good-naturedly and walked away with a small mountain of hot dogs, fries, and what looked to be the largest plastic cup of soda in existence.

"And you, young… young man?" she asked, peering up into Riku's hood.

Almost embarrassed, he shook off the hood. Mickey nodded for him to go ahead and order.

"I'll have a burger and a drink. Ah – but two of each. Please," he said, awkward. He was tense, wondering if they looked too strange and she'd force him out of the restaurant, or if he had the wrong currency, or – the thought flickered, unexpected – what if they saw what kind of person he was… but the irrational fears eased when the lady smiled patiently.

"Twenty munnies," she said, and he quickly fished out the right amount from his pockets. Their food was delivered without a hitch, and he and Mickey sat down to eat. The King had found a copy of the local newspaper and was reading it.

"Anything interesting?" Riku asked as he took a bite of the healthy-sized burger. It was so good that his cheeks tingled. He remembered that Sora loved to pile on ketchup, mustard, onions and relish and everything the boy could possibly put on top of burgers. Kairi stayed true with mustard and pickles, but Riku liked his plain.

_"But that's boring!" Sora said._

_"You're boring," Riku answered, as mature as the situation allowed._

_Kairi would laugh and, when no one was looking, sneak an onion into Riku's lunch. _

_"Hey, that's unfair!" he'd said after spitting out the offensive vegetable. "That's two against one!"_

"Nothing yet," theKking said, snapping him out of the memory. "I'm looking for any signs of the Organization, or Heartless."

He swallowed thickly. "This place is pretty close to Castle Oblivion, so I wouldn't be too surprised. And, there's something about this place… I can't quite pin it down."

"Yeah, me too," Mickey sighed, and folded away the paper. He picked up his own burger and took a giant bite out of it, leaving a neat crescent behind. The King, he noted, ate it with ketchup and mustard."Golly, these are almost as good as Minnie makes 'em!"

"Minnie?" Riku asked, curious.

"My wife." He beamed happily.

Riku choked on a bit of burger. "You have a wife?" he asked dumbly, coughing, before he could stop himself. Of course Mickey would – it would stand to reason that a king had a queen.

"You bet! Minnie's the sweetest girl I could ever ask for, a-hah!" The mouse smiled, looking out the window. "Gosh, she sure must be worried. I should try to send her a letter…"

Riku looked out the window too. The sky was orange, turning into a deeper purple. "You think it'd get to her?"

"Even if our hearts are far away," he said thoughtfully, "even if we're separated, my feelings will get through."

"They will, huh…?" That was a nice thing to say, but, if Riku was his old self, he would have dismissed it as a wishful daydream. Now, he wasn't as sure – he'd seen and lived through more far-fetched things and witnessed the power of hearts. What's one more thing to take on faith…? "I guess nothing's impossible."

"Not at all," Mickey agreed whole-heartedly.

Though there were no stars to be seen, Riku pretended there were.

_Sora, Kairi…_ Riku thought, _I'll fix things for us, I promise. Just give me a little time._

He wanted to believe – he _wished for_ – many things; most of all that he could be with his friends again like they used to be… innocent, unchanging, and unafraid.

---

To be continued


	2. Step 2

_Summary_: After the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Riku attempts to clean himself of darkness, but that is easier said than done...**  
**

**The Path Chosen**  
Step 2  
By RubyD

-

After twilight, came darkness. The nights were long in Castle Oblivion, longer than the stairs that spiraled upwards without end. In the highest room sat a bird in her white cage, with only a sleeping boy to keep her company. It reminded her of a fairy tale she read once, but unlike that story no kiss would be powerful enough to wake him up.

Already it had been days of work, and Naminé was just beginning the task of restoring Sora's memory to what it used to be. It was her duty – she was the one who jumbled it up in the first place. Before she could reassemble the links in his memories she had to separate them all first, steadily, and one by one.

Naminé sighed and focused on the picture in front of her. Most of the time the pictures she drew amounted to little more than colorful scribbles, but how they looked didn't matter. It was what she could use them for. The mind was made of such images – vague figures and shapes, a clear detail here or there, more emotion than anything else, but overall memory was less than perfect.

But this – this was the last link for her to break, and it was perhaps the most important. It _had_ to be perfect. She had an idea what would happen when it broke, and promised that this would be the first thing she'd repair.

Gripping the color pencil in her hand so hard that it threatened to break, Naminé drew in the last few lines for the picture. She concentrated, letting the color guide her – there was red here, and brown, and a bit of silvery blue. A moment later she set the pencil down and stared at the drawing that may have well been a photograph, a snapshot in the lives of three people. They walked together on a yellow beach with the two smiling figures on the outside being pulled forward by the one in the middle. This was Riku, Sora, and Kairi. She had never met the latter, but this is what the girl _felt_ like – all warm reds, pinks, and purple… It was like staring at a long lost friend.

Naminé looked up to the pod at the center of the room – an un-bloomed lotus protecting something very dear. She allowed herself a smile at it. It had been nice being important to someone just once, even if it had been a lie.

Then Naminé took the picture up – and ripped it neatly in half. The two sides fluttered to the ground, echoing the sound of birds.

"I'm sorry," she said, knowing no one would hear her. "Please, live with this for a little while."

A new blank page waited. Now came the hard part.

Carefully, she began to draw.

-

The nights of Twilight Town were as peaceful as the day, Riku decided. The sun had set not long ago, and rather than going to an Inn he and the King camped out on a roof. From that vantage point the streetlights and lamps speckled the dark like fireflies, and he could see the jutting outline of the clock tower halfway across town. Mickey leaned over the side of the roof to search the alleyways and try to find a hint of glowing eyes and moving shadows, but there were none.

"I can't say that I'm not glad," the King stated. They had left the restaurant hours ago and had yet to come across anything.

"Still, we should stay here for a few days to make sure. It's hard to imagine that there's nothing," Riku said. The smell of darkness in the area was faint, but no different than when they were on the road.

"Maybe we're just not looking in the right places." Mickey scratched an oversized ear.

"You know," he said, tilting his head at the mouse, "I'm not sure if I should say it, but the hood doesn't do much for you."

"Shucks, really?" he laughed, abashed. "I was hoping these were, you know, discrete!"

The teen smiled. "Maybe if I were _blind_—"

_"Hey!" Kairi called out, hands on her hips and pouting up at them. She kicked a little sand towards him. "I've been waiting forever. What took you guys so long, Riku? So—"_

"Riku?" Mickey asked.

"Sorry, what?" He blinked at the sudden memory. "That was weird... Never mind. I'm—"

Static filled Riku's head, and his vision flickered.

_A much younger Riku stared up into the roof of the secret cave, back on Destiny Island. To the figure by his side, he said, "Hey, So—" _Flicker_. "When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"_

His legs wobbled and he thought he might fall. Mickey was by his side in an instant.

"Hey, what's wrong?" The King held him steady – fortunately they weren't near the edge of the roof any longer.

"I – I don't know," he answered, dread heavy on his chest. "I just felt dizzy."

"It _is_ late. I think you need a good night's rest – then you'll be right as rain!"

"I don't think that's it…" He took several deep breaths, hoping the unease could be exhaled along with it. But the feeling stayed with him – it was like waking from a dream disoriented.

A sensation of pain burst behind his eyes and he clutched his head. Voices that weren't really there called out to him, laughed, and tried to say something.

"_Riku!"_

_"Hey, hey, cut it out."_

"_I'm not dreaming this time, right?"_

There was a nagging feeling of forgetting someone very important. As soon as he tried to identify the speaker, the static faded away as quickly as it had come. Like a candle, something in him had sputtered and then went dark – leaving nothing.

"Huh?" He shook his head, suddenly feeling cold if better than a moment ago. He straightened, and looked at the King. "What was that?"

"You okay?" Mickey said, looking up at him.

"Yeah, I think so," he muttered. "It felt like – like – " Afraid it was too strange or what it might mean; he didn't finish what he wanted to say. It felt like a light inside of him had gone out.

"What?"

Riku shook his head, saying, "I don't know."

There had been a promise, hadn't there? To fix things where they had gone wrong. A promise made to… someone?

Somewhere he heard a voice answer him – it was deep, quiet, almost hidden, but certainly there. It whispered,

_And when that light is gone, Riku, what will be left?_

_- _

To be continued


	3. Step 3 a world without you

Notes: The sense of smell played an active part in KH: CoM. Frequently the characters claimed to be able to smell darkness within a character. Just a heads up in case the mention of it seemed odd.  
Thanks to: my friends for helping beta-read and edit!

**The Path Chosen**  
Step 3 – a world without you  
By RubyD

---

"No way!" Tidus said, determined. He reared up, ready to throw the smooth stone in his hand. "This will go ten!"

He threw it – it flew across the water's surface but sank on the fourth skip.

"All right!" cried Selphie as Wakka shook his head at them.

They crowded the sands near the dock, where rocks were plenty, trying to see who could skip stones the furthest. The two boys had done well, but Selphie beat them both with a rock that had skipped seven times.

"Hey, Kairi!" She waved at the redhead walking down the shoreline towards them.

"Wanna have a toss?" Wakka welcomed her with a boyish salute.

Kairi tilted her head, looking distracted. "I don't know…"

"Oh, come on, it's fun! Here, watch…" Selphie leaned on her back foot, twisting her waist just right so it would power the throw, and her face scrunched up as she shouted her favorite battle cry, "_Booyaka_!"

"Five…six… seven…" Tidus counted. It disappeared on the eighth skip, to Selphie's delight. "That's not right. How is this happening, Wakka?"

"Gotta try harder!"

"What d'ya say, Kairi?" Selphie grinned brightly as she tossed a flattened stone to her friend. "It'll be a change from just staring at the waves all day."

Kairi caught it and looked down at the smooth oval in her hand, considering. "…Why not?" she said, and stepped up to shore. She hadn't played this game in a long time, but the stance was familiar, and so was the pause of her arm before whipping forward to send the rock flying.

"Wow!" She heard Tidus shout. "That was amazing!"

But she didn't pay attention to the final count. As the momentum died and it slipped into the water one last time she only knew that, no matter how far she threw it, it would never go far enough.

-

The nights in Twilight Town were never completely dark, nor the days completely bright. The world was caught between light and dark - lost and abandoned things found their way into the town, bringing with them a growing sense of darkness. Even the noontime sun failed to bring more brilliant colors to the ever-amber haze, and instead left the world in a literal twilight.

Right now, however, Riku found himself standing in a clean blue ocean, and under a sky that was blacker than night. He looked up at it with a frown on his lips. There were no stars or gentle clouds, like a hole had been gouged over the world, leaving barely a memory of the crisp blue heavens.

The sky was simply _gone_.

How that was possible, he had no idea, and not knowing scared him. Riku stood there for a long time, trying to calm himself by listening to the gentle waves lapping at his ankles. But darkness laid thicker and thicker in his senses until silence enveloped him – making him deaf, cold, and blind. The void above was both oppressing and mockingly welcoming, and he struggled as he felt his feet leaving the shore behind to fall upwards into the endless darkness. Something like laughter echoed in his ears… and he woke.

He stared at the hotel ceiling, panting. Perhaps a remnant from the dream, or perhaps a sign of something else, but the scent of the dark lingered with him like sickening perfume. He thought he had long lost the fear of it, but after a week of the strange dreams Riku began to seek out the daylight more and more.

On this day he felt particularly disturbed by the dreams, and needed to get out – to do _something_. Quietly, so not to wake the sleeper on the other bed, he put on the new slacks and vest he bought not long ago. Without a glance back, he walked out of the shared room he and King Mickey had rented and found that the light outside was dim, but warm.

Riku thought that a quick walk would clear the hollow feeling in his chest, yet hours later he hadn't stopped.

He walked on, going through new neighborhoods for the first time, all brick and cobblestone. People passed him like a colorless blur, the daily murmur and shuffle of feet punctuated by a ringing doorbell, or the rolling of skateboards, or the sharp tone of a name being called.

_"Riku! I'm not dreaming this time, right?"_

He could remember the words, but not the voice – that had faded, days ago. It bothered him. How long until even that was gone? Because, once upon a time, there had been a third person with him and Kairi on Destiny Island. That person, he was sure, had journeyed to other worlds too, but with all his strength could not recall a face. Even the King looked puzzled when asked about it.

It was someone Riku wanted to see again. Maybe, then, the missing gaps would be filled and he'd realize, oh yeah, I remember you – how could I ever forget?

Without that person – and Riku was sure of this, too – the… _key_… in keeping his own precarious balance between light and dark… would be lost.

_It is not the darkness you fear_, he heard a deep voice say, _but what lies within it_.

"Ansem," Riku hissed under his breath, and stopped in his tracks. He turned around with his heart beating as fast as a soldier's drum, almost expecting that tall shadow to haunt his steps, but there was nothing at all.

Even for a sandlot, lined with posters, this side of town seemed emptier than most, but probably because school hadn't let out yet. Yet here, in a part of town he had never been to before, the scent of darkness lingered stronger than ever.

"Ansem?" a new voice said, the tone sounding almost insulted. "No, I don't think so. Looking for company, or are you finished talking to yourself?"

Riku turned around again, almost violently, and found himself facing what he and Mickey had been looking for: an Organization member. The teen stared at the shock of red hair crowning the tall man, who was thin and whip-like under the black coat.

"I was trying to decide something," the red-head continued, casually, "whether or not you're that replica Vexen made. Then I thought, why don't I just ask you myself?"

"And _you_ are?" Riku demanded. He summoned his blade in a flash and held the wing-shaped sword in front of him.

"Ah, so it's the real thing, then." A smirk. "You know, I don't think we were ever introduced. The name's Axel - got it memorized?"

"Why bother, you'll be nothing in ten seconds anyway," he snapped.

"Nothing, huh? Ouch. Did you say that to the others, too? Which by the way, thanks for getting rid of them – the Castle needed a little cleaning."

"You were there?"

"Of _course_ I was there!" Axel laughed. At that, Riku darted forward, but the man jumped back. "Easy there, kid! What, attack first, talk later?"

"Enough small talk," he growled. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't I just say? I wanted to find something out. Funny... You certainly don't smell like you did in Castle Oblivion – I'd even say you almost smell exactly like one of us."

Riku didn't like being squinted at, or the dead-serious expression on Axel's face. "What?"

"Lose anything, recently?"

"No."

"Say, whatever happened to that friend of yours'?"

"You mean, Mickey?" he said, alarmed. He'd been out for hours – had the Organization gotten to the King while he was stupidly wandering around? Riku didn't even know the way back.

"No, no!" Axel answered, waving his arms. "Not the little king – I meant Hero-boy. Sora."

"Sora?" Riku's blade wavered, startled at the sound of the name. It sounded like a bell through fog - _Hello_, something inside him seemed to answer.

"Is there an echo? Hmm, I see." He gave another 'hmm' of thought, as if understanding something. "Man, your brain's just as scrambled as _he_ is."

The boy stepped forward. "What? Who! Tell me – who's Sora?"

"Well, never mind. Just forget I ever mentioned it, alright?"

"Wait! Please - " and Riku hated that weak edge to his voice, " - tell me what you know."

"Why should I? Maybe I'll tell you – if you find me, first." Axel gave a kind of signal, a wave of his hand, and suddenly a strange silvery creature seemed to dive in and out of the ground without breaking it – three of them, actually. They surrounded him, staying in position as Riku shifted with unease.

"What…what are these guys?" he asked. "They don't look like Heartless."

"They're nothing like you've ever fought before – that is, they're Nobody."

"'Nobody'? That word again…" Riku had heard it in the past, back at the Castle. Before now, he thought it was just a riddle to confuse him, but it started to dawn on him that it could be a name as well. An important one, just like 'Sora'.

"See ya around…" There was a whoosh of sound, like air being sucked in, and what looked to be a dark, frothing hole appeared behind Axel. The Organization member stepped backwards into it, and the last sight of him was the Cheshire grin fading out before the portal closed.

The three Nobodies sprang to life, attacking with a flurry of spiked limbs. Riku dodged out of the way of one of the creatures, striking the tough skin with the Soul Eater. The blade sliced it, but he had to jump to avoid the second that emerged soundlessly from the ground like a phantom. A third, unseen, slammed into his back and sent him sailing across the sandlot.

Riku shook himself up, ignoring the pain in his side, and instead glared at the approaching Nobodies. They almost had a rhythmic quality to their movements, nearly alive – and indeed felt different from the heart-hungry Heartless.

They surged towards him again, and this time Riku dove into them equally, arching his sword down on the one he had injured earlier. It dissipated, fading like much smoke. The remaining two proved less easy, smashing their limbs – or perhaps wings – against his sword with enough force to make his teeth clack.

_You're stronger than this_, the dark voice from before spoke up again. _Why are you so weak, now?_

"Shut up!" he shouted, throwing his weight into an attack. The second one disappeared. The last one succeeded in getting under his feet and striking with its limbs until he staggered to the ground.

_Accept my strength and you'll never have to be weak again._

"Yeah, right!" he snarled, and then gasped from the hits. He couldn't concentrate like this.

The Nobody rose into the air, about to descend with another attack, when the familiar glint of metal cut through it from behind. A Keyblade, gold and white.

_A Keyblade – this one with a silver blade and yellow grip – pierced through the Shadow behind him. Someone Riku knew said, with a small smirk, "Leave it to who?"_

"Riku!" Mickey cried. He ran towards the teen. "You okay! Been lookin' everywhere for you!"

"Yeah," Riku answered, gulping. "You made it just in time."

---

**To be continued**

End notes: Axel and Riku in Chain of Memories never really formally met - Axel was dealing with the Riku Replica all the time.  
Thank-you for reading this far! Comments appreciated.


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